Guineas killing chickens?

[Dutchgirl]

We let our keets out of their pen today. A tiny, half-grown cockerel chased them into the open and now they're scouting out the area.

Yesterday we were told by a friend who keeps both guineas and chickens that if you let the two together the guineas will run down the chickens until they can no longer run and then they will kill them. So far all that I've read on the Internet has told me otherwise, but I'd like to see what other experiences people have had.

So I'd like to know: Do your guineas chase and/or kill the chickens?
Do you free-range your guineas and/or chickens?
Do you have any tips for getting the guineas back into their pen at dusk?

And, last but not least, how old do the keets have to be to guess their gender by their wattles? I've read that the cocks can have a bigger pair of wattles and helmet than the hens.
I heard at least one of the keets making a "buck-wheat" type of sound today. (Although to me it sounded like "look-alive"!) So I'm guessing that we have at least one female.

Thanks!

 

[BebeLapinouBlanc]

Oh no!!! Personally I've never heard of that happening........... I do know that the males tend to be QUITE peckish with the little keets...hence why the babies tend to have to be slowly weened into any grouping...... Bu I've always thought that the roos are far more aggressive than the male guineas.... Was it a "group" effort on chasing and attack them? How sad

I also plan on having mine free ranging with the larger chickys but they will be housed separately in their own coop in on of my barns I have. What type of coop set up do you have for them? Sometimes leaving treats out for them at "bed time" will help. Also, don't know if you know.... but they LOVE mirrors

I know a few people who have made their Guinea homes more attractive to them with some decor

Yay to starting to hear their little calls! I've always just gone based on the multiple syllable calls are female...singular are male.... for the most part that's always been accurate. Not sure on the age that is best for determining gender by their wattles. I'm curious as to others' experiences with guineas/chicks.

 

[Chiko]

Guinea roosters are protective of their hens. I hate Guineas for that reason. They killed one of my roosters 2 years ago. I will never get guineas again. They are loud, mean, and annoying.

 

[melroseladi]

I read a lot of people experiencing problems with their guineas attacking the chickens. I was very concerned when I added chickens to my flock. I have 4 adult guineas, 2 males and 2 females. My flock does free-range but they also share a run that they are locked in during the morning and if I am not home. The guineas have taken to roosting in the chicken coop, and did so on their own. I did have a young rooster that I recently rehomed, I had no issues between the guineas and the roo and they had worked together on several occasions to chase off a hawk and a cat.

I am finding that my chickens bully my guineas more then the other way around. My oldest hens chase the guineas away from the food or their favorite dust bathing holes. I keep waiting for my guineas to turn on the chickens but so far it hasn't happened.

I am able to spend a lot of time outside with my flock so I do get to supervise them and study them a great deal. I have found that my chickens are very much in tune to the guineas alarm call and they all come running when the guineas alert. I may not be having issues right now because I have a small flock, 4 guineas, 7 hens, and 2 silkie hens OR it may be because my guineas have gone over that first year hump and they have seemed to have settled down a lot compared to the way they were in the spring.

I use sweet feed to lure all my fowl back to their pens in the evenings. I tried everything with my guineas but they found the sweet feed on their own and love it so that is what I now use.

 

[suzettex5]

I have heard of Guineas attacking chickens, but I think it was almost always in situations where they were too many male guineas and not enough females. Also, the aggression tends to be higher during the more active mating times of the year.
Also want to keep an eye on the size of the roos versus Guineas...guineas are still kinda wild, so if they are bigger, it makes sense they will try to get rid of food and female competition.


That said, so far, all my fowl get along (chickens, ducks and guineas, all raised and kept together). Mostly its my hens chasing off the guineas from the food. No guinea on chicken aggression (yet). My roos are huge Jersey Giants, so maybe their sheer size keeps the guineas in line??

 

[Dutchgirl]

Right now I have only bantam roosters, though I'll have at least one Standard roo when all the spring chicks grow up.

So far, the keets are really nervous. They're wary of where they go. They don't seem to be afraid of the chickens, though. I did happen to see out of the corner of my eye one or two explosions where the guineas may have flown at a chicken. All I know is that I saw both guineas and a hen in the air and the chicken came down looking rather rumpled.

We've been trying to entice the keets back into the pen with birdseed meant for caged birds. We bought it because we had heard that guineas love millet, and that's what is mainly in the birdseed (along with a few other types of seeds). However, right now the chickens seem to be loving it a lot more than the keets.

 

[racuda]

I have never had a problem with Guineas chasing/harassing chickens. They chase and harass each other sometimes.

I think the reason they don't bother my chickens is there are about 50 Guineas and only 10 chickens, so they form their own flocks and don't interact with the chickens. Some of them roost with the chickens, and even nest side by side with them.

 

[leonphelps]

my guineas get along fine with my silkie.

 

[terrilhb]

I have 9 guinea's in with 2 hens. My 1 hen chases them around. But other than that they get along just great. She only chases them when they get to close to her food. She does not like to share. LOL.

 

[wburns]

My guinnea fowl killed two of my chickens in 2 weeks. Recently, my neighbor complained about my free ranging birds. We are on 10 acres, but they kept wandering onto her property (also large). With all birds free ranging openly it was fine for a year. Anyway, I was forced to contain their ranging to my fenced in 1/8 acre garden. I put both guinnea and chickens together. I found a chicken dead at the back fence line, but no signs of trauma. I couldn't figure out what happened. Then a week later, I found my small bantam also dead in same spot. I knew it wasn't killed by a predator for food, because the carcass remained. It had been pecked at head and neck area. I had no idea the guinnea fowl would do that, but now I've read up on it. They chase them to exhaustion then kill them. Don't combine them, especially in a confined area.